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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 2000)
BUND PIRATE STUDIO Call 710-4862 # 32—irk Busoni*^ PARIS # z* bit 0 HU^jB Main Roo**» 0 Z I so boo-tbs # Stehid, »*»os-t bcau-ti-Pul plate ■fco vetoed ih Eu^cr\C # 10% s-tudeivt distort http://Mindpirate.50megs.com • Close to Campus • Clean • Handicap Accessible Machines • Serving the Area for 25 years MR. CLEAN JEAN'S COIN-OP LAUNDRY 240 E. 17th (between High * & Pearl) Chronograph Since 1922 • Member American Gem Snciety 1027 Willamette St. • 345-0354 Valley River Center • 342-4496 An authorized TAG Heuer dealer. a Christian Coalition to ’energize’ supporters for Bush, GOP victory By Eun-Kyung Kim Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON — Don’t dis count the impact the once-mighty Christian Coalition could play on the elections. While the organiza tion of conservatives may have fad ed from public view, their tena cious core of ground troops could help deliver states to Republican George W. Bush. The organization’s source of power lies in its 70 million voter guides. Coalition members also have been key in establish ing voter registration drives and mobilizing churches to get involved. “We plan to play a big role this year,” Roberta Combs, the execu tive director of the Christian Coali tion, said Thursday. While Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore relies on a vast network of union workers to help get out the vote across the country, Republicans in recent years have counted on the Christian Coalition. Still, Texas Gov. Bush, who has focused on appealing to moderate Republicans, hasn’t aggressively wooed the organization, which was pushed into the background at the Republican National Convention this summer. Bush also has turned down a chance this weekend to address several thousand Christian Coali tion members at the group’s annual convention. Earlier this week, Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson called the decision by Bush to skip the convention “very risky,” but Combs said she’s confident “our people really know where he (Bush) stands on the issues. He’s very conservative.” Bush aides said the candidate would be too busy preparing for the first presidential debate Tuesday. Political analysts figure Bush doesn’t need to attend. “Where else are these people go ing to go?” said John Kenneth White, a politics professor at Catholic University of America. “If there are to be three straight presidential losses, that would be very frustrating for the Christian Coalition,” he said. “They (Repub licans) lost two to Clinton and they want the presidency back.” The Christian Coalition has been plagued in recent years by leader ship changes and internal strife has hurt the group’s ability to raise money. Despite its lower profile, it would be a mistake to write off the Christian Coalition, said John Green, a specialist in religion and politics and director of the Univer sity of Akron’s Bliss Institute. The group’s membership — estimated at more than 1.2 million — could generate enough votes in Florida and other battleground states to de liver Bush the presidency, he said. “If the election ends up being as close as people think it will, the Christian Coalition, even in its weakened state, can probably have some influence,” Green said. “I would caution people to not write the Christian Coalition off just be cause they haven’t been making headlines.” A recent Pew poll taken earlier this month found that about 22 per cent of registered voters consider themselves “evangelical Chris tians.” The same survey reported about 63 percent of voters said they had a favorable view of evangelical Christians. That’s up from 41 per cent who had a favorable view in 1996. Six in 10 Democrats and in dependents had a favorable view, while three-fourths of Republicans had a favorable view. Attendants possibly provoked man who attacked fellow passengers By L. Anne Newell Associated Press Writer SALT LAKE CITY — A 19-year old Las Vegas man who flew into a rage during a Southwest Airlines flight to Salt Lake City and died af ter being subdued by passengers was partially provoked by the flight crew, some passengers told police. The Salt Lake City Airport police incident report, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, said when police boarded the airplane Aug. 11, they found Jonathan Burton un conscious in the center aisle, one passenger’s foot placed on his neck, another on his head and two more on his arms. He was unconscious and bleed ing from the mouth with a “huge knot” and “discoloration” on his forehead, the report said. Police handcuffed him and two officers carried him off the plane, hitting Burton’s head as they placed him on the ground. The report said Burton became combative about 20 minutes before the flight was scheduled to land, hitting some of the 120 passengers aboard the 737 and pounding a hole in the locked cockpit door. “Several passengers stated that the flight crew antagonized the young man and that intensified his anger,” the report said. Names of the passengers police interviewed were removed from the copy of the report. One passenger contacted Thurs day agreed that flight attendants may have provoked the man after his initial outburst. Anne Crawford, 41. of Barstow, Calif., said that after Burton at tacked the cockpit door, passengers succeeded in getting him back to his seat and calming him. Then the flight attendant loudly announced another passenger, an off-duty po lice officer, would take care of the situation, Crawford recalled. “She was standing next to me when she was making the an nouncement and I was just cringing in my seat because they had pretty much calmed him down,” said Crawford, who was seated two rows behind Burton. Burton punched the officer in the face, Crawford said. “He was calm, he seemed like he was going to relax, but then he went into this fit again,” she said. “I was just wondering how much training Southwest gives to help deal with these situations.” { { He was calm — he seemed like he was going to relax—but then he went into this fit again. Anne Crawford passenger, Southwest Airlines yy Linda Rutherford, a Southwest spokeswoman, said flight atten dants are not trained for specific sit uations such as the Burton inci dent, but are trained to deal with general emergencies. “We feel our flight crew did ex actly what they needed to do get that plane on the ground, and that the passengers who were restrain ing Mr. Burton did what they thought they had to do to keep him from moving again,” she said. Burton died at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City about an hour after being taken off the plane. An autop sy by the Utah state medical exam iner’s office concluded the actions of the passengers killed him, but the U.S. attorney’s office has de clined to file criminal charges, say ing the death was an act of self-de fense. An FBI spokesman said the re port was unlikely to affect the agency’s investigation unless the U.S. attorney decided to press charges. “I don’t think we’re going to pur sue it much further,” said Bill Matthews, special agent for the FBI’s Salt Lake City division. The report says the pilot report ed the man pushed his upper body through the hole he made in the cockpit door and muttered, ”... fly this plane ...” It also cites passen gers as saying Burton was pacing back and forth and screaming ob scenities before he attacked the door, making comments such as, “Someone needs to fly this plane,” “The drugs aren’t mine” and “It’s not the drugs.” The autopsy showed small levels of cocaine and THC, the active in gredient in marijuana, in Burton’s blood, but not enough to have af fected his actions. Burton’s family has hired an at torney for possible legal action. That attorney and Burton’s family did not immediately return phone calls Thursday. Crawford denied passengers used excessive force to restrain Burton. “Was there force? You bet. He was strong, he had the strength of a madman. Under normal circum stances he wouldn’t have been able to fight them, but he was fighting off a dozen men,” she said. “They did what they had to do. I honestly wish that I could thank each of them individually for what they’ve done. They got hurt too.” The police report said two pas sengers suffered minor injuries, in cludipg the off-duty police officer, who had to have stitches to his face, while others were splattered with blood. The flight attendants asked to speak to a chaplain after being questioned'by the FBI.
